Conclusion

There you have it, Intel's future plans for the mobility market. The new 45 nm Penryn processors will be launched this November 12 with actual release only in January 2008. They will displace the top models of the current Core 2 (Merom) mobile processors.

Architecturally, the new Penryn processors are similar to their 65 nm predecessors. But that does not mean that they are just die-shrinks of the current Core 2 (Merom) processors.

Other than being built on the smaller 45 nm process technology using Intel's new high-k metal gate technology, the new Penryn processors also come with a 50% larger L2 cache and SSE4 support. The FSB speed will however remain at 800 MHz until the release of the Cantiga PM/GM chipset in Q2'08. Even with the same architecture and FSB speed, the new Penryn processors will deliver a significant performance improvement over their predecessors, especially in applications that are optimised for SSE4.

We were not able to obtain any performance results for the new Penryn processors. However, leaked results of the quad-core Yorkfield and dual-core Wolfdale processors show that the larger cache alone can account for 5-20% improvement in performance. The Penryn is expected to benefit even more from the larger cache because of its slower FSB speed.

When it comes to SSE4-optimized applications though, the new Penryn processors is expected to deliver at least a 60 % boost in processing speed. There are indications that the performance boost may be even higher (double the processing speed) with properly-optimized applications.

Many of us who have just invested in Merom-based Core 2 Duo notebooks may now be groaning in regret for not waiting a while longer. Well, there's no need to feel so sad. As enticing as the Penryn is, it will take software developers some time to optimized their software. You also have to factor in the cost of paying for the upgrades. It would be smarter to wait for the Penryn-refresh that will come just a few months later.

Of course, if you are still puttering around with an older notebook, then a Penryn-based notebook will be something you might want to sink your teeth into. Upgrading from a Pentium 4 or a Pentium M notebook to the upcoming Core 2 9000/8000 (Penryn) notebook will be like moving from a Trabant to a Bimmer.

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